Sajid Javid tells House of Commons of 'additional £30m in funding' for Northamptonshire - but Government has still not told the council

Sajid Javid has told MPs in the House of Commons that Northamptonshire is to receive an extra £30 million in funding this year.

The Secretary of State for communities and local government was addressing the House when delivering his statement on the provision of finances to local authorities from 2018 to 2019.

During the debate after his statement, he told Kettering MP Philip Hollobone: “Today’s proposals will lead to, first of all, additional funding for Northamptonshire council of almost £30million which I know will be welcome.”

But it is still not yet clear how the figure of £30 million has been arrived at, be it through an additional grant or through a permitted increase in council tax above. Despite Mr Javid revealing the apparent windfall to the public neither he or his department - the Department of Communities and Local Government - has told the county council what its final settlement is.

It means that potentially the entire set of budget proposals - including closing libraries and bus services - will have to be scrapped and drawn up again. But nobody in his department is clear.

A Northamptonshire County Council spokesman said: “We cautiously welcome the indication that Northamptonshire may receive additional funding from the Secretary of State today in his Local Government Settlement.

“It seems the Government may have heard our concerns about reducing levels of funding in the face of unprecedented demand for local services and the promising signs that our campaign for a fairer funding deal for the county has cut through thanks to the ongoing discussions we’ve been having with the DCLG.

“However, we have not yet seen the full figures and will need to see the details of our settlement before we can really understand what impact this will have on our draft budget and medium term financial plan going forwards. These full details will only become known over the coming days and weeks.”

Editor's note: this article previously made mention of Mr Javid speaking of £13 million. However, the official record of the House of Commons, Hansard, quotes him as saying £30 million. We have updated the article accordingly.